New vs. used

[theeedude]

Since you have your heart set on a 2009 new model car, buy new. Duh!
Plus you may wait 2 years only to find out that resale hasn't dropped that much. For example, I testdrove a 2004 Mazda3 when it came out in 2003, but decided to wait for a couple years to get it lightly used. Well in 2005, I looked at the market and bought a brand new 2006 Mazda3, because 2004s didn't depreciate enough to justify buying used.
Also, understand that if you buy a new car for 25K and it depreciates to 20K after 2 years, or you buy a used car for 15K and it depreciates to 10K during the same period, you could have been driving a new car under full warranty for same depreciation hit as the used one, even though the purchase price of the used one is much lower. It's all about the slope of the depreciation curve during the time interval.

 

[eleison]

The best thing to do is to buy new and drive it into the ground. That way, the depreciation hit is spread out for the lifetime of the vehicle, not just for the time that you own it which could be a couple of years if you decide to buy and resale.

If you want to buy a new car year after year, don't buy new or use.... lease.


If you want to buy a car you cannot really afford, buy use... its a gamble but. Worse case is that you might have to take public transportation to work if it breaks down.

If you want to save money, buy a kia or a hyndai... don't expect chicks to dig you, but with the extra money, you can hire strippers whenever you feel bad for buying such a cheap car.